Beijing time on April 26, the Raptors ushered in the first round of the 76ers playoffs in the fifth game, although the Raptors in the third game has fallen into absolute passivity, by the 76ers to get the match point, but in the fourth game the Raptors sat at their home court to 8 points to repel the 76ers, even if today is an away game, but the Raptors still preemptively, in the first half to achieve a 13-point lead, and finally won 103-88 against the 76ers, the total score to 2-3.
The 76ers lost the G5, and Harden Embiid had just 12 free throws in total
The reason why the Raptors can win this game so easily is that they have limited the two core players of the 76ers, Embiid and Harden, and the phrase "catch the thief first" is really an immutable truth, even if applied to the NBA, it is also very suitable, this battle Embiid and Harden combined only scored 35 points, of which Embiid scored 20 points and 11 rebounds on 7-of-15 shooting, while Harden continued to pull his crotch, delivering 15 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists with a dismal accuracy of 4 of 11. A large part of the reason why the two of them failed to play aggressively on the offensive end was because they did not frequently go to the free throw line, harden only had 6 free throws (5 hits) in this game, Embiid also had 6 free throws (6 of all), and the two combined only had 12 free throws, even less than one of them during the regular season.
Nas revealed the secret to winning, controlling the number of free throws Harden Embiid
And Raptors coach Nicknas also talked about it after the game: "I think if we can keep the number of free throws like Embiid and Harden around 5, 6, 7 times, rather than double digits, we have a better chance." It can be seen that Nas should have found a way to turn the tables, as long as the frequency of these two standing on the free throw line can be limited, the Raptors really have a chance to stage the first "let 3 chase 4" counterattack plot in NBA history.
The 76ers' number of free throws in the regular season and playoffs is very different, and the Raptors see hope for a counterattack
After Harden was traded by the Nets to the 76ers before the trade deadline, the outside world joked about this team at that time, calling them "Jingdezhen Porcelain Factory" (can not touch, a touch on the free throw), the entire regular season played down, this sentence is really not exaggerated, 76 people during the regular season, the average free throw 23.8 times per game ranked third in the league, and Harden, Embiid and the two are also at the top of the free throw list, Embiid averaged 11.8 free throws per game to rank first in the league (9.6 hits), Harden is not to be spared, averaging 8.2 times per game in the league (7.2 shots), that is to say, the 76ers can get close to 17 points by relying on Harden and Embiid's free throws alone.
However, in the playoffs, the 76ers double core under the targeted tactical deployment of Nas, the frequency of standing on the free throw line is significantly reduced, Embiid's average free throw per game dropped to 9.8 times, Harden is even more pitiful, averaging 7.4 free throws per game can only rank 13th in the league, in the case of no way to get the referee whistle favor, but when they encounter a bad attack on the offensive end, it is easy to have a mental imbalance, so this time the 76ers double core was completely targeted by Nas, disarmed in advance, so that the Raptors played the biggest net win score in this round of the series, it is not too strange. As Nas said after the game, if the Raptors can limit the number of free throws in the 76ers' double core, then they really have a chance to reverse the decline of this series and stage a super reversal that makes 3 to 4 Who says no?